Neighbors, off-duty firefighter, police officer rescue couple from burning Apex home
The quick action of an Apex firefighter and several neighbors saved an elderly couple from a burning home Thursday morning.
Posted — UpdatedA fire destroyed the home at 1116 Blackburn Road, but the residents inside suffered only minor injuries.
“The total roof was aflame. It was just – I had never seen anything like that," nearby resident Marie Schaefer said.
He said he was able to rescue the couple's dog, and he and other neighbors got the man out of the home. But then the man went back into the burning house for his wife.
“The other people outside said, 'I see the wife ... through the window,’" Murphy said.
An off-duty Apex firefighter and a police officer were among those who broke through the window and pulled the woman out.
“One of our off-duty officers was on [U.S. Highway] 64, saw the smoke, came into the neighborhood, broke through the side window [and] rescued the two people at home," Apex spokeswoman Stacy Galloway said.
Apex Police Deputy Chief Mitchell McKinney identified the police officer as Jimmy Sites, noting that Sites cut his hand during the rescue. The name of the firefighter couldn't be confirmed Thursday.
If it wasn’t for everyone pitching in, Murphy said, things would have turned out differently.
"They are just good neighbors, and I didn’t want to see them perish,” he said.
Firefighters were about get the fire out before it spread to other nearby homes. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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